Popularity Takeover Read Online Free Page B

dense, slack-jawed expression. Lili pressed her button nose against the glass. But who was sitting next to Max, wriggling out of her seat to join Cassandra? It was hard to see, but it kind of looked like . . . it looked like . . .
    A girl.
    Someone with long, super-straight hair dyed inky black. Someone tall and thin, wearing striped leggings and a sexy sweater dress, a studded black belt slung around her nonexistent waist, climbing out of the booth and standing hip to hip with Cassandra. Someone blowing a kiss at Max and tinkling her fingers at him. Lili’s heart dropped to her stomach.
    Max turned to look at Lana Del Rey lite. Lili knew that look too well. It was the look Max used to give her when they were together. What was he doing? Blowing a kiss back at Lana? No!
    Lili was outraged. They’d only broken up yesterday (okay, a month ago, but still!) and Max had already found himself a new girlfriend. Not only that, he’d chosen the complete anti-Lili. She had thought the whole drama between them was just a horrible misunderstanding, something that could be fixed with a good heart-to-heart, once she was able to tell him her side of the story when she got back from Aspen. But now she realized the truth. Max wanted the breakup, because he already had Miss Artsy Chick waiting in the wings.
    A tear dripped down her cheek. She’d been wasting her time, wishing for a reconciliation with Max. He was with his own kind now, having a great time. He didn’t need Lili. He obviously didn’t miss her. It was all over.
    Then the worst possible thing happened. Cassandra suddenly looked toward the window and . . . omigod! She must have spotted Lili, because her face lit up in a malicious, delighted smile. Lili could see Cassandra mouthing her name, tugging on Little Miss Romantic’s arm and pointing.
    Lili took off down the street as fast as she dared in her perilous heels. Why had she hung around so long? She’d totally humiliated herself in front of the odious Reed Prep loserati. And she was probably late getting toStarbucks. Her mother would be furious, especially considering that Lili had been on virtual house arrest since the disastrous camping trip from hell.
    â€œLili!”
    She glanced back over her shoulder. Max was standing outside the diner, one hand up in the air, as though he was stopping traffic. There was no way she was going back there for more humiliation. Everything was over with Max, so talking to him would be totally pointless.
    â€œLili!”
    She turned away from him without answering, wobbling away as fast as she could. There was nothing to talk about. The picture at the diner was crystal clear. All she had to do was keep putting one foot in front of the other. All she had to do was keep running away.

4
    MOVING CRIBS IS NEVER EASY
    â€œI’M HOME!” ASHLEY CALLED, BUT the only reply she got was from the butler who’d opened the door for her. Her footsteps echoed though the grand marble entryway as she marched toward the great room, the scene of her brilliant descent-by-trapeze a month ago. Ashley sighed with contentment at the memory of her total triumph. The entire seventh grade at Miss Gamble’s had been blown away by her Super-Sweet Thirteen birthday extravaganza.
    But now all everyone was obsessed with was this stupid S. Society and that even more yawnworthy S. List. Ashley knew what S really stood for—a load of crap!
    But you couldn’t really blame everyone for talking: She couldn’t think about much else either. The nerve of that Sadie Nobody, turning up to school in argyle socks and booties! Ashley been planning the exact same thing for the Ashleys, and now she’d have to come up with something new. There was no way they could be fashion followers.
    Ashley felt her face crumple into a frown, her mood suddenly as gray as the clouds rolling over San Francisco Bay—the view from the great room’s twelve-foot windows. Why were other